Thai 2

From Krabi

From Phi Phi we caught another ferry over to Krabi (mainland Thailand.) At this point I'm getting used to the boat thing, but also getting very tired of it. Motion sickness is a severe thorn in my side. Earlier on Sus had bought pressure point wristbands so I sported those while traversing long stretches of open water. I believe they truly saved me from the monsoon stirred Bay of Thailand. I never would have thought there'd be 3'-4' rollers during our ride.

Krabi, being a hot spot for the 20-something Thai tourist, it was almost comical as everyone disembarked the ferry. I felt like there was an assembly line of young backpackers below deck. One after another they come up to the dock, each one only varying in hair color and oversized North Face bag color. At that point I definitely felt like we weren't trying hard enough to get off the beaten path.

We spent the next few nights in Krabi doing the usual. Mostly motor biking about town, window shopping, working and of course finding new places to eat. We'd been pretty good about going to locals only places. The only problem is the language barrier at those joints. You may not always get what you think you ordered, but it's still very good. Krabi was the first place we'd breezed through where the street carts were fairly scarce. We come to find out that this is because there are morning and night markets each day. That's where to find good eats, groceries, t-shirts, jewelry and the occasional Californian. (Most Thai families will pick up their dinner there as well).

After a casual day of working and sipping on Chang (Thai beer that means elephant.) Sus and I headed to the night market for dinner. Midway through our meal we befriended another traveler that happened to be from Cali, East County I believe. Brian was a nice guy who hung out with us the rest of the night. We discussed one another's trips and he balked at our spending habits (We actually thought we were being thrifty.) Brian was a frugal guy who would and had suffered many a meager nights accommodations and endured lengthy public transportation bouts just to save a buck. I can only attribute his resilience to youth. I had never thought of myself as old(er) until that point. Well, maybe I'm not old, but I'm old enough to know what certain creature comforts are worth to me. And yes, I'll gladly pay.

At this point, I was pretty loose from the Chang, satisfied from the meal and happy meeting another Californian, so I thought it'd be an opportune time to order a flask of Sang Som (Thai rum). I grand idea at the time, but in retrospect, unnecessary. Although, I doubt I would have eaten the fried grasshopper at the market that night had we not indulged in the fifth.

The following day... oh scratch that. Two days later Sus wanted to make it to Railey Beach before we left the region. Finding out that it's impossible to get there by motorbike (we tried) the day prior, we jumped on the bus. It's about thirty minutes by local bus to the main beach in Krabi, where you have to take a fifteen minute long tail boat ride to the isolated Railey Beach. It's a peninsula only accessible by water taxi.

The place is beautiful! Long stretches of white sand beach contrasting crystal clear blue water, surrounded by rock cliffs. The kind that jut straight out of the earth, defying the natural terrain (It's a popular place for climbing.) We got massages, rented kayaks and got completely burnt. It had been raining on and off for an entire week, so we were both eager to soak up some rays. We were also fortunate enough to be passing through on a Sunday, football (soccer) league day. As we basked, the locals played game after game on the beach. These weren't pick up games either. Marked off field, refs, jerseys and crazy fans. Mostly young girls who used any shot/pass/block as an excuse to scream as loud as they could. On a side note, EUR08 is huge here. It certainly rivals muay Thai boxing as the country's favorite sport, which narrowly edged out badminton and snooker.

A fantastic day.